Nov. '05 Mamas, Marching into Spring! - Page 9

[gingerstar]

Fern, hope Ngaio heals quickly! How scary... and clever mama, to trust those instincts.

Helen, Another how scary! Glad that ended well. I have to ask, reading your yummy blog, what is curd cheese? Is that like curds and whey, or is it like cottage cheese?

Mary, I have to say, I think the outdoor thing is just age and type of child; we finally got a bit warmed up (like, 40) enough to play outside, and Ella is just like Jocelyn was at this age - no matter what I did, no matter how long we were out, no matter that her face was pink, her nose streaming, her cheeks like ice, I would just have to pick her up and carry her, kicking and screaming, into the house. I always thought the neighbors must think the worst, but luckily the wise mama next door (her youngest is in 8th grade) reassured me that she had BTDT, too. Ella screamed all the way in "I hate going in!!!" I just wish I could remember how old J. was before she would come in without the tantrum...

ETA: going back a ways, Amy - I vote Montessori all the way. My mom taught Montessori for several years; I love it, and from what I have learned about Waldorf, I have my reservations there. I think Brynn would just blossom and excel with a Montessori education.

[kaspirant]

Hi mamas...

Leah is beautiful and doing so well.

Jacob is growing and learning new things every day!


I am not doing so well...at all. We have been bombarded with many horrible life situations for the last month...one right after another...the kind of setbacks that just one would send a person reeling...and we just got news of the 10th or so tonight in a month.

I'm really not sure I can take much more...and Lord knows my two year old can't.


My March paycheck is on hold because of clerical crap...I'm waiting for paperwork that I was told a month ago I'd have in 2 weeks to get that cleared up.

DH isn't working right now because he's doing his student teaching (working full time no pay)

Because of a personality conflict he is now required to re-submit a 7 week assignment of working full time no pay.

I just received word that they are not paying me in April because my maternity leave was processed as completely unpaid leave.

The in-laws were here for a week to *help* out with the new babe and expected me to meet them out everyday and only came to the house once...leaving me exhausted and Jacob a complete mess.

It is now looking like I have to go back to work from April 21st to June 13th and leave both my babies in daycare...something I really wasn't prepared for and I can't stop crying because of it.

we aren't getting all our mail because the mail addressed to my previous name isn't coming through...so we have bills piling up we aren't sure where they are or how to get them. *my fault for not getting my name changed on everything right away...*

and that is just the tip of the ice berg.

i'm a mess.

Following along but just can't stay on top of the conversation..

[flapjack]

OMG, kaspirant. We're here for you if you want to talk about it.

Sharon, yes, curd cheese is like curds and whey. And it's GOOD...

[*Amy*]

Oh, Alicia. I'm so sorry you are having such financial woes right now, when you should be able to focus on your family. I'm glad to hear Leah is doing well though. I hope the situation improves soon for you all.

Fern, HOW SCARY! I'm so glad you listened to your mama instinct and took Ngaio to the hospital to be checked out. I hope she is healing quickly and feeling better. A hug for you too!

Helen, that is scary about Skye too! I haven't lost Brynn yet but sometimes I do dream about it, and it's the most terrible feeling I've ever had. I'm glad it ended happily!

Monique, I hope you are having a blissful babymoon!

Originally Posted by gingerstar

Amy - I vote Montessori all the way. My mom taught Montessori for several years; I love it, and from what I have learned about Waldorf, I have my reservations there. I think Brynn would just blossom and excel with a Montessori education.

Aw, thanks! We did go to the school tour yesterday and we were both *very* impressed with the school, the director, their philosophy/approach to Montessori (very progressive), and all of the people we met. I feel really good about it, but it's also really hard for me to leave Waldorf even though I know that it is not really what's best for Brynn right now. It's like breaking up with someone. I just got our acceptance letter for Brynn to start nursery there in the fall, and I'm trying to figure out how to let them know we won't be coming back. It's going to be awkward, to say the least. Other than that aspect of it, though, I feel really good about the move to Montessori, both for Brynn's sake and for how convenient and affordable it's going to be for us!!

Happy first day of Spring, by the way! It's been raining for days here, but it's supposed to be sunny today and tomorrow. I really wanted to take pictures of Brynn in a little spring dress and hat (we don't really do Easter, so more like an Equinox dress ) but there aren't even any flowers blooming yet. : Plus, I don't even think it's going to be warm enough to go outside to take pictures. Seriously, I am so over winter!!!!!!!! Good riddance.

So anyway, I hope you all are getting sun and warmth today!

[flapjack]

Bwahahaahah. It seriously looked like snow here- and it is so cold that we did the school run this afternoon with Skye wearing two jumpers under her coat and the buttons wouldn't fasten neatly. No Spring for us, just global warming :

[spughy]

No sun and warmth here... I am burning the last of the firewood and wondering what dinner I can make in the oven. Rowan and I got hailed on when we went to the farm market this morning... it delayed our communion with the goats and pushed Rowan into overtired-land and we had an unpleasant drive home.

Yesterday we went to Vancouver with another mama and her little boy, to visit a mutual friend who moved over there a few weeks ago. It was a fun trip, except for the wait at the ferry coming back - we got there at 4:30 and didn't get on a ferry until 7. But the kiddiwinks slept for most of that time, so it wasn't too bad - we were naughty and drove onto the ferry, both of us with sleeping babies on our laps. :. I almost had a nursing baby, but I managed to get my boobie back before we actually drove on. My friend and I had a good giggle though, wondering if the breastfeeding-advocate crowd would stand up for us if we got pulled over and arrested for driving and breastfeeding at the same time. Toddlers no less. We figured no, they'd bail on us and say that wasn't what breastfeeding was for. Ha! Breastfeeding is TOTALLY for 2-sailing waits. And waking overtired kids to stuff them into carseats for a 400-metre drive at 5 km/h onto a ferry? Not happening.

Anyway, it was a lovely trip, marred unfortunately at the very end by an unpleasant interaction with another parent... Rowan and her little buddy wanted to play on the slide, on the ferry, but it was crazy insanely busy so they very sensibly elected to just stand and watch, until the kids started leaving to go back to their cars at the end. There were several older kids - much older than the 5 years recommended for the play area - jumping around on the slide, using the smaller kids as obstacles, vaulting over them to get ahead on the slide line-up, etc. One kid got a bit squished at the bottom of the slide and cried, but otherwise there were no injuries, just very rambunctious kids, being disrespectful of the younger ones but not quite overtly aggressive. Then when the rest of the kids had gone, Rowan and Travis went in for a couple of slides, which was fine, then one of the rowdy kids came back and was going down the slide too - which was ok, she was zipping around past Rowan and Travis but they were going at their own rate ok - until the older girl zipped up the stairs and found Rowan hesitating at the top of the slide. And she gave her a "helpful" little push. Rowan jumped up at the end of the slide and said indignantly "Somebody pushed me!!!" I looked at the little girl and frowned, and said "That's not cool" but didn't intervene otherwise. But then she ran back to her parents, and her dad came up and said "What's going on?" and I replied, "Oh, I think your little girl pushed my little girl down the slide" - not angrily, I was just telling him what happened, he could do what he liked with the info. Rowan wasn't hurt, just indignant, so I wasn't wanting to make a big deal of it. But he freaked out! He started telling me I needed to toughen my kid up (the kid who was happily going back on the slide and not distressed at all) and I was like, "excuse me? She's TWO. How is she going to stand up to a BIG five year old??? Your kids have been jumping over the little kids all evening, they're showing no respect at all, I just told your girl I didn't think that was cool." He got all pissy and rather than responding, just kept saying "that's your first kid, isn't it? you'll learn. I bet that's your first kid." I got fed up and said "I hope the pushy one is your LAST." (Which, as my friend pointed out, was a pretty awesome comeback.) The guy just said "bye bye" in a stupid childish voice and left. Then Rowan was all upset because Steph and I were all upset, and it was hell getting her off the slide, and hell getting her into the car, and Steph and I had to sing "99 bottles of beer" to keep the kids calm in the car on the drive home. Sigh. We got down to 55.

[HoneyTree]

Originally Posted by spughy

"I hope the pushy one is your LAST." (Which, as my friend pointed out, was a pretty awesome comeback.)

Nicely done, mama! I'll ask for a pre-pardon from the universe for my saying it, but isn't it lovely to be more clever AND a nicer person than the dweeb who's giving you a hard time?

Congrats, Monique!!!!

Alicia, what a rotten time it sounds like you're having! I hope something wonderful happens soon, something that helps you get over this hump. Maybe your students will have missed you so much that they'll be kind and sympathetic when you return (at least for a week or so? ).

Fern, poor Ngaio! Healing vibes to your little girl...

[DreamsInDigital]

It's official. We're totally UCing for this baby. Woohoo!

[spughy]

I just have to post this quickly. Rowan is CRACKING ME UP tonight. First it was climbing up on my lap with the syringe from her play doctor set, poking me in the face with it and telling me she was going to fix me just like a car. Then a few minutes ago she comes up to me with two stuffed toys and says, very seriously, "Can you help me put these animals in the stroller?" I looked over at her toy stroller, and it is crammed full with every other stuffed toy she owns. There are probably 10 animals in there, all sticking out through the little cracks, contorted and upside down and just smushed. So of course I helped her stick the last two in, and she happily trotted off with the stroller packed full of uncomfortable-looking animals, talking to them all the while. I don't know why I found this so hilarious, it just was. Now she's in her bouncy chair with all the animals.

[Queen of Cups]

Sarah, that's so cute! Ellie has a Heavy Baby (waldorf style doll) that I made her that she loves. She calls it Baby most of the time and sleeps with it and carries it around with her, and will claim that Baby needs certain things or doesn't like certain things. I was making myself a salad for lunch today and asked Ellie if she wanted some (am I the only one with a two year old that LOVES salad? she eats it nearly every day!) and she said, "No. Baby wants salad!" Later we were watching Alice in Wonderland, and Ellie didn't like it (I guess it is a bit weird, almost to the point of being scary) and she said, "Baby doesn't like this!" and asked to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang again. How many times can I watch that movie? Its Ellie's absolute favorite, and honestly I don't mind it too much, but I swear we've watched it hundreds of times over the last few months. It is so cute to hear her singing along, though...

So, mentioning Waldorf brought to mind you, Amy. I can imagine how difficult/awkward it is to be changing schools, since Killian goes to a small school that's a co-op so I'm involved in a lot of stuff there. It would be weird to leave! I'm kind of curious, though - how much did/do you and Jason buy into the whole anthroposophy deal? That is a big part of why I'm uncomfortable with Waldorf (not so much anthroposophy itself, but the fact that a lot of schools act like its not an issue when its a major underlying theme to everything in the curriculum!), along with the fact that some schools actively discourage reading until age seven (after the adult teeth have come in, when kids are moving into the next stage of development according to the Waldorf philosophy - I'm not mistaken on that, am I?). How was it handled that Brynn is starting to read, was it an issue? What I love about Montessori (and Killian's school follows the same philosophy) is that kids are encouraged to progress at their own pace and follow their interests.

Sorry I'm so rambly tonight! I've had a rum and coke and am feeling chatty.

[*Amy*]

Originally Posted by Queen of Cups

So, mentioning Waldorf brought to mind you, Amy. ... It would be weird to leave! I'm kind of curious, though - how much did/do you and Jason buy into the whole anthroposophy deal? That is a big part of why I'm uncomfortable with Waldorf (not so much anthroposophy itself, but the fact that a lot of schools act like its not an issue when its a major underlying theme to everything in the curriculum!), along with the fact that some schools actively discourage reading until age seven (after the adult teeth have come in, when kids are moving into the next stage of development according to the Waldorf philosophy - I'm not mistaken on that, am I?). How was it handled that Brynn is starting to read, was it an issue? What I love about Montessori (and Killian's school follows the same philosophy) is that kids are encouraged to progress at their own pace and follow their interests.

Yeah, for us, the reading thing was kind of a deal-breaker. I don't want to hijack the thread, but I just finished writing my "break-up" letter to Waldorf this morning so all of this is really at the forefront of my mind.

We actually talked to the pre-K/Kindergarten lead teacher and the director of admissions about Brynn's reading last week because our school definitely adheres to the delayed reading principle. I wasn't asking for advice so much as trying to figure out where they stand specifically in the case of *my* child, and their advice - in a nutshell - was to distract her from reading for the next few years. They suggested she draw pictures and make her own story book, tell stories orally, or ... I can't remember the other thing. Anyway, everything *but* reading, basically. I was just like, "Um, no. I don't think so." Added to that was the fact that Jason and I are highly uncomfortable with the heavy use of fairy tales and the resultant "archetypes" of good vs. bad/pretty vs. ugly/victim vs. victor, which they want the children to internalize. My argument is that I don't really want Brynn to think that *any* part of her is bad or ugly! (Feel free to tell me if you disagree with that.)

As for the whole anthroposophy thing - I really don't buy into it. It seems like a lot of superstition and old wives tales to me. Our school even goes so far as to "encourage" right-handedness, which I think is wrong, wrong, wrong! They also make all women teachers wear skirts because it "softens the human form" - which, if that is the case, why aren't the men wearing skirts too!? They also have this approach to music that I think is bizarre, which is that they believe that young children (up to kindergarten, maybe?) should only be exposed to music in the scale of the fifth - which apart from being hard to adhere to because I don't even know what the hell that means, is just silly when you consider the types of music and sounds that young ones are naturally drawn to: rhythm and percussion! Anyway, there is virtually no scientific basis to all of it, which is pretty hard for me to swallow.

Kavita and I have talked about all of this a lot, and one aspect that I had to eventually agree with her on is that Waldorf is on the verge of being cultish. I sometimes feel like we're being brainwashed, and that divergent opinions are not tolerated! Being a scientist, I really want to know the basis for the pedagogy, but there usually isn't anything factual to back it all up. You either believe or you don't.

But you know, there were a lot of things we really loved about it, such as the reverance of nature, the hand-crafts, the simplicity....so for this past year it really was wonderful for us and there is a part of me that is sad to leave. But man - just seeing who Brynn is becoming makes it so clear that she needs more than they provide, and I don't believe in adhering to some random chronological scale of readiness; I think each child should be considered on an individual basis, which is defitely the Montessori approach.

So yes, it's really weird to leave (considering I used to be out proselytizing about Waldorf) and the next couple of months are going to be awkward given that I'm in a leadership position on the Parent Association...so I'm just trying to stay in a happy place and enjoy our remaining time there. But I am really excited for Brynn for next year!

[spughy]

Amy I think we had an e-mail convo about the whole Waldorf thing a while ago? It's interesting this is the education path Brynn is following - I kind of had a suspicion that you were a little too independent-minded to get fully into Waldorf. Like you, I am a big fan of the nature, simplicity, *loveliness* of it, but I couldn't stomach the absolutist teachings, I want Rowan to be comfortable with her dark side, and to be able to feel dark emotions and appreciate them for their power as much as I want her to feel happiness and light. And, although Rowan isn't as dark as might be expected from her heritage (her hair is actually getting lighter) her father is very dark, and I would never want her associating dark with BAD.

I actually was just talking about this with my friend the other day when we were travelling over to Vancouver - she checked out the Waldorf preschool here and came away impressed by the facility but weirded out completely by the teacher. I just haven't been getting a good Waldorf vibe from around here... but everyone raves about the Montessori preschool, I've got a couple friends with kids in it, and they all love it. But one of my close friends from high school went to a Waldorf school until he was 12 and thrived, he transitioned easily into public school for jr high, and he is now a successful, stable adult, so go figure

[barcelona]

So, yet again, I've been quite MIA, or unable to keep up. Reading along, as always, though...

Big HUGS, again, to you Alicia. I hope that things look up very soon.

And Fern, How scary about Ngaio!

And Monique, I adored reading your birth story. Welcome baby!!!

And Q of C, are you feeling better these days? That is so cute about Ellie and her baby, and so great that she loves salad! Finley does not like it, I'm sad to say, but he sees us eat it frequently, so hopefully one of these days, he'll get into it.

As for school, Amy, I'm so glad you are figuring things out for your brilliant Brynn. I have gotten an off vibe about Waldorf on here, too. There was even an I've-been-hurt-by-Waldorf thread in the Personal Growth board! I read some of it, as I was quite curious, and it made it obvious it was not for me. We are most likely unschooling here. I suppose if Finley seems to really want to go to some sort of program, we'd look into it, and I think Montessori-esque is all we'd consider. But I am really excited about unschooling/homeschooling, and I think it's gonna work out beautifully for our family. Now, hopefully they won't make homeschooling illegal and acting on it in CA, as they are threatening...

And I guess part of the reason that I haven't been good at writing is that I've been a bit depressed, for no real good reason, other than dealing with the ups and downs of being in the entertainment world...and both my and my husband's careers are just so up in the air and in waiting right now. It can get hard psychologically at times. And we've both been at it for so long. I'm just ready to be working, doing well, doing what we've worked so long to do and dreamed all our lives. And financially, it's stressful, though we are figuring things out each month, with our editing and photographing here and there. Anyway, it's not that bad, I've just been in a slump for a bit. But I am coming out of it, happily, and Finley and I had a glorious day, planting some sunflower seeds, talking about any old thing, cooking together in the kitchen, using herbs from our garden (he is the cutest helper in the kitchen), blowing bubbles, making letters with sticks outside. All is well.

Thinking of all of you always, and loving reading along, and trying to be better at posting!

And Helen, thanks for always keeping us smiling and laughing and filled up with your wisdom.

And spughy, thanks for your tales of food, as they have really rubbed off on me, and I am still going TF all the way, and Loving it!

[Kavita]

My ads at the bottom of the page as I'm reading right now are 3 about Waldorf related things, and one about finding sex offenders. ??????

There are aspects I really love about Waldorf (as spughy mentioned) but frankly there are things that make me nervous too. We plan to basically homeschool with mostly an unschooling approach. I've learned a lot from Waldorf philosophy that makes sense to me and I do agree that pushing reading too early can be counterproductive, but again, I believe that each child moves at his or her own pace also and forbidding something is not the same thing as not forcing it. I do read to Ella and talk to her about letters/numbers and we count things and such to the extent that she's interested in that. She actually seems to be more mathematical than I would have expected--sometimes she reminds me of The Count from Sesame street because she likes to count all kinds of things. Like if we're reading the dr. seuss alphabet book, she wants to *count* the nine new neckties and the ten tired turtles on the tuttle tuttle tree. She's not quite so interested in the "N" for neckties and the "T" for turtle yet.

I do like the fact that there are a few appealing spiritual underpinnings of Waldorf (although again, some just seem weird.) I think the concept of nurturing the child's spirit gently is just totally missing from most education, and I value that about Waldorf. But not enough to pay huge amounts of money to send my kid to that sort of institution. One thing that was a real turnoff for me when we went to a festival last year where there was a Waldorf school booth, is that I was talking to the enrollment director of the school here when Amy came by (who'd already met and talked to her at that point before we'd gotten there) and mentioned to her that I was the friend she'd mentioned earlier who had studied midwifery with "X", one of the people who is also a bigwig in Waldorf world. (I had mentioned this to Amy previously one day over lunch because it was before she knew much about Waldorf and she'd asked me if I knew anything about it and since studying with this person was how I personally came to know of Waldorf that's why I was telling her that what I knew was from my teacher's work and her book on the subject.) When this was mentioned to the enrollement director her whole attitude toward me changed--I mean, it was like I had been touched by celebrity/genius, etc. and was suddenly a bit more important. And then she introduced me that way to someone else connected with the school who came up to talk, and she mentioned my teacher as sort of almost "right up there under Rudolf Steiner in the Waldorf hierarchy. Well, if we had a hierarchy, which we don't." Also she made a big point about the parent/child program there (which Amy and Brynn have been doing) as being "a way to learn to be with your child from the experienced Waldorf early childhood teacher who is a parent herself and has a wonderful way with children and is also very experienced in Waldorf for early childhood." That really just sort of pushed my rebellious button--I would happily go to a parent child group to play, to meet other parents and children, and I always expect to learn things and get new ideas from any such situation. I certainly don't think I'm a perfect parent, I do try to work on myself and learn new "techniques" and attitudes for dealing with issues like discipline, etc. However, the vibe I got was that the program was really for teaching me about how to be with my kid (per Waldorf indications) because otherwise I would be sort of lacking as a parent, and that really sort of raised my parental hackles and made me feel like, "hey, I KNOW how to be with my kid. I'm her MOTHER and I've devoted pretty much my entire life for the last couple years to her physical, spiritual, mental and emotional wellbeing, even when it has required great sacrifice from me to do so. So don't tell me that you're going to teach me how to be with my child."

That and the thing starts at 9 am and we are historically not morning people especially because we moved from a totally earlier time zone and it took us a while to adjust, pretty much sealed the deal that we were not going to do that program!

I'd better get going now, I have a few things to do today and need to get on the stick cause we're going to be late othewise!!!! Sorry for my recent lack of personals--I'm thinking of everybody warmly and will post more soon!!

[HoneyTree]

We're having a pretty sweet day. We went to the post office, the nursery to buy three blueberry bushes (, came home to make some bread (with a sourdough starter--who on this thread do I thank for giving me that idea?), and then nursed to sleep on the couch. So I just finished dishes, swept, and folded some laundry while looking at my beautiful boy in slumber.

I think he has pink eye, though. Lots of yellow gunk. But he's snotty, too, so I don't know what that's all about. This winter I have been exposed to and become acquainted with more symptoms of illness than I think ever before in my life. It's both fascinating and annoying, but no longer repulsive--I consider this a benchmark in my progress toward supermommyhood.

And I've been thinking a lot about kind of identifying myself as a mother lately; the owner of my local LYS, who is between an acquaintance and a friend of mine--lost her baby last week at something like 34 weeks. My heart breaks for her--the baby would have been her first. When I first heard the news, my first thought was how quickly any of us can go from who we are to who we were--a pregnant woman to a woman who lost a baby, a mother to a woman whose child died. I can see it, and sometimes I can feel it, this life is death is life is death thing, but good god--it makes me feel so vulnerable...

[3for3hb]

nak
Thanks everyone for your well wishes. We are doing well so far. I feel sorer bodywise than with my other births. my right leg doesn't move very well by itself. something to do with how far apart my abdominals split and the resulting pressure on ligaments and tendons that weren't meant to carry that weight - they are all so stretched out now etc.

the postpartum hormonal high/numbness sort of came crashing down yesterday. i feel so lonely and need some serious nurturing. dh has been wonderful. he's seriously running himself to the ground working, taking the kids with him, cooking, cleaning, constantly running everywhere to take care of everything. but despite it all, i get left alone in the room with baby a lot and so feel very friendless and.. alone. i even have been calling my mom, just to have someone to talk to/ encourage me. she really does know me well (on certain fronts) and has been really nice etc. i just know that when we finally name our baby and it's not after my dad or her father she's gonna have a conniption and get all mean again.

my milk came in strong yesterday and i was all weepy trying to handle nursing as much as possible and pumping and burping and wiping spitup all while my body cries out with every movement and there's no one "extra" around to help out. so after my meltdown at about 11pm when i just felll asleep and he woke up hungry, poopie etc and i had to call dh for help...
well let's just say dh greeted me this morning with a huge steaming mug of st. john's wort tea I drank it but still need to look it up and make sure it's okay with bfing.

sorry for rambling. just wanted to pop in and say hi. i should have pics posted soon

[spughy]

It's wonderful to see you here again Monique! I'm sorry you're feeling lonely though... . I wish I were there and could drop by and just visit with you and see your lovely new babe.

Teresa, I totally know what you mean with the fragility of it all. I have morbid thoughts all the time, but they kind of reinforce how precious everything is and how we shouldn't take it for granted... and I try to store that feeling and bring it out when I'm not allowed to go poo by myself Which happened again this morning, but Rowan did go off with her papa quite happily so I've had the day to attend to chores peacefully. She is hunting easter eggs now (real ones, I think, not the chocolate variety).

Any sewing mamas, can you go look at my thread in the sewing forum? Pleeeeease???

Back to the laundry now... oh, funny story. Last weekend when my mom was here, my friend Sue met us at a quilting store and we hung out there for a bit and then went for lunch. Today, exactly one week later, I was at a completely different markety thing, to buy groceries, when I ran into Sue and HER mom in the parking lot. They were headed to the quilting store THERE. So I hung out with them for a bit, and we tried to have lunch but the cafe was too busy. But the really weird thing is, Sue's mom is like my mom's long-lost twin sister. Seriously, they could easily be related, looks-wise - and they are both avid quilters. Sue and I are a bit weirded out by this, especially since you'd be hard pressed to find two people who look LESS like each other than me & Sue. I am short and dark, she is tall and fair, and we have entirely dissimilar features - yet our moms look almost identical. Same hair, same face shape, same nose, sort of the same build, same height, same colouring, same eye colour, even the same glasses! Genetics are weeeird.

[3for3hb]

thanks, I knew I could get support here

Pictures are FINALLY up on my blog along with an edited version of my birth story. Seriously cute pics if I should say so myself!

[MelW]

Beautiful photos, Monique! And congrats on this thread, too- I was looking you up from San Francisco

Love and hugs to everyone. More later when we're settled in more from our trip. Neela was a fabulous road tripper as usual, but I feel like I need a detox from on the road food and sitting in a car so much for several days. Not to mention last night's hotel built on some kind of toxic waste.
Tomorrow I run again!

[barcelona]

happy easter and happy spring!

(we are really focusing on the celebration of spring and new life, all week, starting with the start of spring on thursday).

today we are going to eat a meal with friends of friends (and the friends), and there'll probably be a little egg hunt. a pretty simple but hopefully lovely day!

monique, your baby is BEAUTIFUL!!!! i just adore seeing those pictures. and your whole family is precious. willem and gabriel look so excited to have a new little baby brother. wish i could come over with a cup o tea and keep you company during those lonesome times. hang in there!!!

to all!